Tony Stewart through the years

By Staff Report | Tuesday, June 11, 2019

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Our Driver by Number project will ask: Which driver either had the most success or was most emblematic with the closest association of every car number ever run in NASCAR's top division? For a career like Tony Stewart, just one number isn't enough. He's our pick for both the No. 14 and the No. 20. Scroll through to see memorable images of his memorable career.

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It's a rare find to see a baby-faced Tony Stewart, but the three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion had to start somewhere. Stewart is seen here surrounded by his 15 winning trophies in 1979 when the dirt racer was just 8 years old.

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Stewart began his racing career in open-wheel cars and came to NASCAR with a wealth of high-speed racing experience.

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Before his move to driving in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart claimed the 1996 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

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And just one year later, Stewart was the 1997 Indy Racing League champion.

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Stewart made his entrance into the Monster Energy Series in 1999 driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac. At season's end, the then-28-year-old won that year's Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award and finished fourth in the points standings behind Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin, respectively.

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In his first Monster Energy Series race, Stewart started on the front row at Daytona International Speedway with Jeff Gordon. The rookie finished 28th.

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It didn't take long for Stewart to start racking up wins. In fact, the then-JGR driver earned his first victory during his rookie season (1999) at Richmond Raceway. Stewart would go on to win two more races that year at Phoenix and Homestead.

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Just two years into his career, Stewart competed in the Memorial Day Double -- racing a total of 1,100 miles in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Stewart finished sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte. He is pictured here arriving at Charlotte Motor Speedway by helicopter. Four drivers (John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Stewart and Kurt Busch) have attempted the Indy-Charlotte Double, but Stewart is the only one to complete all 1,100 miles.

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As quick as his first wins came, so did Stewart's first championship in 2002, which was just his fourth premier series season. Stewart finished the season with three wins and 38 points ahead of Mark Martin in the standings.

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In November 2004, dirt-racer-at-heart Stewart became the new owner of Eldora Speedway, one of the most famous dirt tracks in the world.

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Stewart won his first Brickyard 400 in 2005, which came as no shocker with his long history of success at the Indianapolis track in the Indy Racing League.

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Stewart has won at Daytona International Speedway four times in his career. His first victory at the Florida track came in the July 2005 race. Since then, Stewart has won at Daytona three more times (2006, 2009, 2012), but never the Daytona 500.

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Stewart won his second Monster Energy Series championship in 2005, the second year of a new playoff format. Stewart finished the season with five wins and 35 points ahead of Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards in the standings.

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With great accomplishments come great opportunities. After Stewart's 2005 championship win, he visited the White House to give President George W. Bush his own fire suit.

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In 2007, Stewart returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Victory Lane when he won the NASCAR Brickyard 400 for the second time in his career, but this time Stewart wasn't leaving until he climbed the fence that Indy driver Helio Castroneves made famous in 2001.

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In 2008, Stewart made the announcement that he was joining forces with car owner Gene Haas to form Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 and would pilot the No. 14 Chevrolet.

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In his first year with Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart won the 2009 All-Star Race and the $1 million that goes with it.

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It was in 2009 at Pocono Raceway that Stewart earned his first points-paying win as a driver/co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.

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In 2011, Stewart became a three-time champion, beating Carl Edwards by a tie-breaker on wins.

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Stewart's 2011 championship brought him back to the White House, this time to meet President Barack Obama.

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Stewart has always been one to stand up for himself, and 2013 at Auto Club Speedway was an example of that. 'Smoke' ran well for most of the day, leading laps and contending for the win. However, a late-race incident with Joey Logano -- who blocked Stewart on the last restart -- relegated the driver of the No. 14 to 22nd place. After the race, an angered Stewart confronted Logano -- who had just wrecked his car after battling with Denny Hamlin in the last turn -- on pit road in a scuffle involving both pit crews.

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Stewart made a memorable life decision in 2013 -- he purchased a pig. Stewart named his new pet, 'Porkchop' and considers the name '(the pig's) first and final warning.' This pet purchase should come as no surprise from the man who once owned a monkey.

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Stewart won another title as a car owner in 2014 with championship driver Kevin Harvick. Harvick signed with Stewart-Haas Racing for the start of the 2014 season. After five wins that year, including a victory in the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the No. 4 driver brought SHR its second title.

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On Sept. 30, 2015, Stewart announced that 2016 would be his final full-time season in the Monster Energy Series and that Clint Bowyer would take over piloting the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in 2017.

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On Feb. 2, 2016, a Stewart-Haas Racing spokesperson announced that co-owner and driver Stewart was involved in an all-terrain vehicle accident on the West Coast. He was transferred to a hospital in an undisclosed location and able to move all of his extremities.

On Feb. 4, SHR released a statement saying Stewart sustained a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra and would miss the beginning of the 2016 season. Stewart returned at Richmond after missing eight races.

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Stewart hadn't visited Victory Lane in three years -- 84 races to be exact. That all changed on June 26, 2016, at Sonoma when 'Smoke' wheeled his No. 14 to Victory Lane at the road course, holding off former JGR teammate Denny Hamlin to score the win and a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs.

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The Kentucky race on July 9, 2016, marked Stewart's 600th start in the sport's top series. He scored a fifth-place finish in the race for his second top five of the season.

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Tony Stewart's final Monster Energy Series start came on Nov. 20, 2016, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Stewart finished the race 22nd and indicated he was looking forward to the next chapter, which would include him involved as the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing and a dirt track racer.

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